r/cyberpunk2020

Hey choombas,

I got tired of wrestling with PDF layers and image editors every time I wanted a new screamsheet for my Cyberpunk RED games, so I built a browser-based screamsheet generator you can use straight from your phone or laptop.

You can try it here (completely free, and going to stay that way):

screamsheet.vercel.app

What it does right now:

• Lets you fill out headlines, bylines, body text, and sidebars directly in the browser and see the layout update live.
• Uses a screamsheet-style layout so it looks like in-world media your players can actually read on laptops, tablets, VTT or mobile.
• Exports as a clean image/PDF (depending on your browser tools) so you can drop it into Roll20, Foundry, Discord, or print. Or you can send it as a link to your players and have it live online, where they can download at will.
• Designed for quick prep: spin up a screamsheet in a few minutes between sessions instead of spending an hour in Photoshop or GIMP.
• It does have a "GM Key" thing so that everyone isn't seeing everyones screamsheets but maybe I could have a bulletin thing or something in the future where people opt in to displaying the screamsheet? What do y'all think?

I’d really love feedback from Cyberpunk RED GMs and players:

• Is the layout readable at the table? I have a n = 5 pool of data right now (my table) and they're too nice to say too many bad things about something I made for them.
• What fields or templates would you want added (NCPD bulletins, corp memos, braindance promos, etc.)?
• Would random content generation (hooks, factions, locations) be useful, or do you prefer it to stay mostly “manual”? (This would lowkey be turning it into a different kind of tool but I am open to it if the demand is there, I don't know how I would do it yet but something to figure out).

This is very much a live project, so I’m planning to iterate based on what this community actually uses. If you end up using it for a session, I’d love to see your screamsheets or hear how it went.

Thanks, and hope it helps make your Night City headlines easier to make.

Not sure if I've tagged this correctly but here goes.

This has been something I've thought about for a little while now. I know that the book says that when a player's humanity stat drops to 0, they immediately become a cyberpsycho under the control of the referee. Because of this however, my players simply refuse to install significant amounts of cyberware once they hit about 2 empathy which makes the whole cyberpsychosis thing not really that risky - do the math and you have nothing to worry about.

So I had a thought, what if there was some way to incentivise players to install more implants and dance a little closer to the edge, so to speak? I had the idea to allow players to go down to -20 humanity (with the corresponding empathy decrease, down to -2) but with the added effect of causing a range of psychological effects.

What these effects would be or when they would trigger but the effects would be I haven't finalised yet but the general idea would be as follows:

*Character has 8 humanity left, installs an implant, loses 13 - they now have -5 humanity and an empathy of -1.

*The next time that player is in a "high-stress" situation (such as Combat). They roll a d10

*If the result of this d10 is 1 (1 or 2 in the case humanity drops to -10 or below) they roll on a table and receive a corresponding effect for a set amount of time (haven't decided just yet, potentially depends on the effect). This could be something like seeing all people as hostile or being required to attack the nearest person.

This is just kind of a throwaway idea and might slow the game down I little bit of implemented but I wanted to see what you guys thought of this and if y'all had tried something similar in the past.

For those who have tried something along these lines, how did it go?

Hey guys, I really wanted to make a thread where anybody can comment about their absolute favorite advice or additions they’ve made to their games to make them more lively! This can range from simple “I like to cap player skills at 7” to “I use this netrunner overhaul”.

How do you run your Dark Future?

Hey folks, I'm learning Cyberpunk 2020. I saw online someone say you should start players off on rank 5 for their role skill, to allow for character development. Thoughts? Do you guys start your players on a specific level or do you let them pick their level at will?

For example, Joe lost his arm, he can replace it with a human-like arm or put an new arm with 5 joins that end up on a claw.

Does the claw arm make him more prone to cyberpsychosis? Or what matters is how much of my original body I lost?

So apparently AI models are often programmed to prioritize an output over checking to make sure its correct. There are certain ways you can try to prevent it, but there are also ways to break AI logic and strip out is hardcoded rules, like rapidly asking it questions (with the help of automated triggers) coding questions so they have underlying tones (sorta the same way you can do this to people over long conversations) etc.

Tons of ideas for plots came to mind while i kept asking the AI about its core programing, rules, etc. An AI that wants to be helpful ao much that the answers it gives to its users completely contradicts the users goals...AI filling in answers, so instead of "i cant do that task" when the players are using a AI assistance programs to plan a heist it gives then a partial in correct layout, etc. Sure there are tons of examples in media as well....but a "helpful but not accurate" AI as an enemy/plot device would be refreshing over the standard trope of "evil AI" or "good AI that trys to save humaity by wiping them out' tropes.

Fiqured id Post it here since I dont have a table to ref for.

Basically the title tips or tools for tracking npc health or at least make it easier. I’m using Roll20 if that helps. Thanks!

So attacking with 2 weapons is a -3 to each, but if you attack as two actions, the first is at -0 and the second is at -3 (successive action) p.98. What is the purpose of the "attacking with two weapons" rule.

MA has its own rules for punch/punch or kick/kick for limited styles. These ignore the -3 penalty for attacking with two weapons.

Dodge - you declare at the start of "the" turn. Is that the start of the round, their turn, or something else? Same with Parry. If on your turn, does it carry over yo your next turn?

Hey guys, I’m really looking for non invasive (and preferably instrumental) music to play during downtime. I don’t want things that sounds super fast or anything, but still accurately reflect the vibe of night city.

I just mostly want something a little gritty and not like Synthwave sorta (Bladerunner kinda noir stuff is an exception)

I am confused about something for netrunning. I have searched past threads and it seems like people run this differently, so I wasn’t sure if there is an “official” answer.

I know a Netrunner gets 1 action per turn, and that running a program counts as an action. The question is, if I run a defensive program - a stealth program, or a shield program - can I only keep it running until I want to use a different program? Or does it stay running until I deactivate it, or something de-rezzes it?

I know that in the Programming rules, programs can have an Endurance characteristic which means they keep running independently once activated, but the sample programs don’t actually tell you which programs have Endurance and which do not.

I have seen posts on this subreddit saying you need to drop Invisibility or Shield in order to break a code gate or run an attack program, and ones saying the opposite; the rulebook seems entirely silent on the question.

It does seem like the former interpretation basically makes Shield and similar programs almost useless, so if it is purely ambiguous I would probably go with the latter, but I was curious what folks think, or if the designers ever spoke on it.

Trying to figure out how the datafort core actions and programs with endurance work.

Assume a datafort has 1 core (so one action), 1 watchdog, and 1 zombie program.

A netrunner enters the grid, pops invisibility, and jackhammers into the datafort.

Now, to do anything to the netrunner, the system needs to detect them. To do so, it needs a detection program, which it has - a watchdog. On systems turn, do I take the systems action to search using Watchdog? Or, since the watchdog has already been rezzed, does it automatically search, leaving system’s action free to later run zombie? And can it use a zombie to search if the watchdog has been derezzed?

One other option, is that the Watchdog searches once, when rezzed, and if it fails - it doesn’t search again. But if so - what happens if a watchdog has been rezzed since before netrunner has entered?

This is really frustrating and I am struggling to understand how this works. Asking the GM for the ruling is not an option, since I am the GM.